Outsiders Ciotti, Pecresse Set To Contest Les Republicains Nomination

In a major political upset, outsider candidates Eric Ciotti and Valerie Pecresse go through to the run-off for the nomination of the centre-right Les Republicains (LR) ahead of next year's presidential election.

• Ciotti and Pecresse each won 25% of the vote in the first round of LR's contest, with more prominent candidates Michel Barnier and Xavier Bertrand coming in third and fourth place with 23% and 22% of the vote respectively. Dr Philippe Juvin came in fifth with 3%.
• The near four-way tie shows how divided the centre-right party is in its attempt to find a winning identity and candidate in the face of a powerful incumbent in President Emmaneul Macron and two vocal far-right candidates (Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour) who dominate the airwaves.
• LR's congress will vote in the run-off on Saturday 4 Dec. Result expected around 1430CET (0830ET, 1330BST). Ciotti - a member of the National Assembly from Alpes-Maritimes - has run as the most right-wing of the LR candidates, a move that has seemingly paid off among party members. Pecresse, President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, has run a more orthodox conservative campaign and polls better at a national level than any other LR candidate except the now-eliminated Xavier Bertrand.